Thursday, January 3, 2013

55%
of Americans have received government aid - (money.cnn.com) More than half of Americans
have received benefits from government entitlement programs during their
lifetimes, according to a Pew Research Center report released Tuesday. The
study found that 55% of Americans have been on at least one of the six largest government
safety net programs: unemployment benefits, Social Security, Medicare, food
stamps, Medicaid and welfare. When factoring in veterans' benefits and federal
college loans and grants as well, the number rises to 70% of Americans
receiving government aid. Unemployment benefits are the most
popular assistance program. About 27% of Americans have received unemployment
assistance at some point in their lifetimes. Social Security is a close second,
at 26% of Americans.

Spanish
Ditch Mobile Phones in Record Numbers - (www.cnbc.com)
Recession-hit Spaniards
ditched mobile phone lines in record numbers in October, with the two biggest
operators continuing to hemorrhage market share to smaller rivals offering
subsidies on handsets. Spain, where there are more mobile phones than people,
has been hit by a slump that has left one-in-four unemployed and led to a
falling number of active phones. Some 486,000 phones were cut off in October,
telecoms regulator CMT said on Monday.

JPMorgan,
Goldman Ask Judge to Dismiss Mortgage Lawsuit - (www.bloomberg.com) JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and
other banks asked a New York state judge to dismiss a $1.8 billion lawsuit
brought by residential mortgage- backed securities investors. The investors,
which included Phoenix Light SF Ltd., sued New York-based JPMorgan, Goldman
Sachs and the other lenders in New York state Supreme
Court in Manhattan in May, accusing them of
making misrepresentations about the loans backing the securities. The
defendants in documents filed on Dec. 14 asked Justice Charles E. Ramos to
dismiss the suit, saying the investors failed to show they’re entitled to the
requested relief and that their claims are barred by a three-year statute of
limitations under German law. The defendants also say the investors have failed
to identify “any actionable misrepresentation” that they relied upon.

All
Defendants Sentenced in $20M Mortgage Fraud Scheme - (www.mortgagefraudblog.com) All defendants in a $20
million mortgage fraud scheme have been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jorge
A. Solis. A total of 10 defendants were convicted in the scheme whereby a
former Dallas Cowboys linebacker used his name and fame, according to evidence
in the case, to get business and further the mortgage fraud scheme. The
defendants convicted and sentenced are: As previously reported by
Mortgage Fraud Blog, Eugene Lockhart, Jr., Carrollton, Texas, a
former linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys, was sentenced to to 54 months in
federal prison and ordered to pay approximately $2.4 million in restitution
stemming from his leadership role in a massive mortgage fraud scheme that he
and others ran in the Dallas area from approximately 2002 to 2005.